Western banks ‘reaping billions from Colombian cocaine trade’

Anti-Drugs Policies In Colombia: Successes, Failures And Wrong Turns, edited by Alejandro Gaviria and Daniel Mejía, Ediciones Uniandes, 2011 By Ed Vulliamy, www.guardian.co.uk 2 June 2012 The vast profits made from drug production and trafficking are overwhelmingly reaped in rich “consuming” countries – principally across Europe and in the US – rather than war-torn “producing” […]

Peru needs glacier loss monitoring: UN warning

By Roberto Cortijo 4 June 2012 Peru needs a permanent monitoring system to gauge Andean mountain glacier shrinkage caused by global warming and its effect on people who depend on the ice for water, UN experts warned. “We have spoken with Peruvian government institutions, and there is no sufficient monitoring system to tell us the […]

Brazil President Rousseff vetoes parts of forest law

25 May 2012 (BBC) – Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff has vetoed parts of a controversial bill which regulates how much land farmers must preserve as forest. Among the 12 articles which President Rousseff rejected is an amnesty for illegal loggers. Brazil’s farmers’ lobby had argued that an easing of environmental restrictions would promote food production. […]

Dam threatens a way of life in Peru – ‘It’s a return to violence, another war’

By AARON NELSEN15 May 2012 BOCA SANIBENI, Peru – Along the murky waters of the Ene River, in a remote jungle valley on the verdant eastern slopes of the Andes, the rhythmic humming of an outboard motor draws the stares of curious Ashaninka children. With encroachment from settlers and speculators, and after a devastating war […]

The age of extreme oil: ‘This used to be a forest?'

By Arno Kopecky 19 May 2012 One grey Thursday at the end of April, a plane touched down in Fort McMurray, Alta., carrying four Achuar Indians from the Peruvian Amazon. They had flown 8,000 kilometres from the rain forest to beseech Talisman Energy Inc., the Calgary-based oil and gas conglomerate, to stop drilling in their […]

Brazil’s president faces defining decision on bill removing rainforest protection

[Petition: Veto Dilma!] By SIMON ROMERO16 May 2012 RIO DE JANEIRO – President Dilma Rousseff is facing one of the defining moments of her presidency as pressure builds on her to veto a bill that would open vast protected areas of forests to ranching and farming, potentially reversing Brazil’s major gains in slowing Amazon deforestation. […]

Most mammals won’t flee climate change fast enough

By Emily Sohn, Discovery Channel 14 May 2012 As the climate changes over the next century, the ranges of nearly 90 percent of mammal species will shrink — in many cases because animals won’t be able to get to areas where the climate is going to become suitable for them, says new research. Across the […]

Indians ‘cry with happiness’ at Brazilian Court ruling

11 May 2012 (Survival International) – The Pataxó Hã-Hã-Hãe Indians of Brazil are celebrating a Supreme Court decision to allow them to live undisturbed on their land. The Pataxó, of Bahia state, have been subjected to violent conflict for decades as ranchers have been occupying their indigenous territory. They have been pushing to be able […]

Petition calls on Brazilian president to veto 'catastrophic' forest code

[Petition: Veto Dilma! We call on you to take immediate action to save Brazil’s precious forests by vetoing the changes to the forest law. We also urge you to prevent further murders of environmental activists and workers by increasing law enforcement against illegal loggers and ramping up protection for people at risk from violence or […]

Dead dolphins and birds are causing alarm in Peru

By DAVID JOLLY and ANDREA ZARATE7 May 2012 Late last year, fishermen began finding dead dolphins, hundreds of them, washed up on Peru’s northern coast. Now, seabirds have begun dying, too, and the government has yet to conclusively pinpoint a cause. Officials insist that the two die-offs are unrelated. The dolphins are succumbing to a […]

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